
The Ancients
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Dani Martineck
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By:
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John Larison
About this listen
“This richly imagined journey into a dystopian future is at once cautionary and provocative, inviting us to heed the lessons of the Ancients.”—Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass
A richly imagined, sweeping novel of hope, love, and adventure set in the unforgiving world of our own descendants, by the acclaimed author of WHISKEY WHEN WE’RE DRY
A young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly and utterly alone, orphaned in an abandoned fishing village. Their food supplies dwindling, they set out across a breathtaking yet treacherous wilderness in search of the last of their people.
Down the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her family, she plots her escape—while her fellow captives plan open revolt.
At the center of power in this crumbling city, a young scholar inherits his father's business and position of privilege, along with the burden of his debts. As the empire's elite prepare to flee to new utopia across the sea, he must decide where his allegiance lies.
With a rapidly changing climate shifting the sands beneath their feet, these three paths converge in a struggle for the future of humanity—who will inherit what remains and who gets to tell its story. At once a sweeping survival story; an epic of the distant future; and a post-apocalyptic vision of hope and optimism, THE ANCIENTS weaves a multilayered narrative about human resilience, hope, and stewardship of our world for future generations.
©2024 John Larison (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"In a sea of post-apocalyptic novels, John Larson’s The Ancients stands apart for the audacity of his world-building, the vibrant humanity of his imperiled characters, the stark, insistent drumbeat of his storytelling, and the ultimate hopefulness of his vision for the intertwined fates of our species and our planet."—Hillary Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Mudbound and When She Woke
"This ambitious novel reaches far, far deeper than almost any post-apocalyptic tale to reframe the stakes of the climate crisis. This is a novel written by a deep soul, whose commitment to the planet, his community, and his family is on display in these pages. Larison's knife-sharp prose cuts right to the bone. He is one of our best. A true literary and intellectual maverick."—Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Godspeed
“The spare writing style enhances the stark and bleak atmosphere, but it also richly captures both the bounty and brutality of the natural world and the hard lessons they learn from it. Fables are interwoven throughout the story until this novel itself becomes something of a cautionary tale, emphasizing how to learn from the past in order to create a better world for the future.”—The Library Journal
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Story
1890, San Francisco. Seduced by her employer’s nephew, Annie Gilmurray, an Irish maid, is accused of stealing the ring he promised her. Sentenced to one year in San Quentin, Annie is heartbroken and frightened among the inmates of the women’s ward: prostitutes, murderers, and pickpockets. But Annie finds beauty and friendship in a brutal place, where the women look out for one another, dreaming of a better life after release. But their world inside San Quentin's walls is a dangerous one, and when the unthinkable happens, Annie makes a choice that will alter the course of her future forever.
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A page-turner following strong women finding their agency imbued with rich, local SF history
- By S. Brett on 06-04-24
By: Meredith Jaeger
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My Name Is Venus Black
- A Novel
- By: Heather Lloyd
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Venus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy - until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’ developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing. More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past.
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Loved it!
- By Yikes on 03-24-18
By: Heather Lloyd
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The Heavenly Table
- A Novel
- By: Donald Ray Pollock
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1917, in that sliver of borderland that divides Georgia from Alabama. Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett ekes out a hardscrabble existence with his three young sons: Cane (the eldest, handsome, intelligent); Cob (short, heavyset, a bit slow); and Chimney (the youngest, thin, ill-tempered). Several hundred miles away in Southern Ohio, a farmer by the name of Ellsworth Fiddler lives with his son, Eddie, and his wife, Eula.
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Transgressive, just not transcendent.
- By Darwin8u on 09-27-16
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The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill
- By: Rowenna Miller
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier. Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister’s wedding day.
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Characters and world building
- By Amandahawkes on 02-14-24
By: Rowenna Miller
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Whiskey When We're Dry
- By: John Larison
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1885, 17-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbors, she cuts off her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her outlaw brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess' quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah - dead or alive.
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Surprisingly fantastic
- By stuartjash on 08-14-19
By: John Larison
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Tyll
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin - translator
- Narrated by: Firdous Bamji
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Daniel Kehlmann masterfully weaves the fates of many historical figures into this enchanting work of magical realism and adventure. This account of the 17th-century vagabond performer and trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel begins when he’s a scrawny boy growing up in a quiet village. When his father, a miller with a secret interest in alchemy and magic, is found out by the church, Tyll is forced to flee with the baker’s daughter, Nele. They find safety and companionship with a traveling performer, who teaches Tyll his trade. And so begins a journey of discovery and performance for Tyll.
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Like a Tapestry
- By David on 02-18-21
By: Daniel Kehlmann, and others
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Ninth City Burning
- By: J. Patrick Black
- Narrated by: Suzanne Elise Freeman, Lincoln Hoppe, Ryan Gesell, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Entire cities disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but dust and rubble. When an alien race came to make Earth theirs, they brought with them a weapon we had no way to fight, a universe-altering force known as thelemity. It seemed nothing could stop it - until we discovered we could wield the power, too. Five hundred years later, the Earth is locked in a grinding war of attrition. The talented few capable of bending thelemity to their will are trained in elite military academies, destined for the front lines.
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Really Tuff Read/Listen
- By Art Simmons on 10-05-16
By: J. Patrick Black
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The Oath
- By: Frank E. Peretti
- Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Something evil is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Under the cover of darkness, a predator strikes without warning—taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion. The community of Hyde River watches in terror as residents suddenly vanish. Yet, the more locals are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, sworn to secrecy by their forefathers’ hidden sins. Only when Hyde River’s secrets are exposed is the true extent of the danger fully revealed.
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Suspenseful page turner
- By Consumer Outlook on 05-31-21
By: Frank E. Peretti
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The Lost Steps
- By: Alejo Carpentier, Adrian Nathan West - translator, Leonardo Padura - introduction
- Narrated by: Caleb Summers
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Dissatisfied with his empty, Sisyphus-like existence in New York City, where he has abandoned his creative dreams for a job in corporate advertising, a highly cultured aspiring composer wants nothing more than to tear his life up from the root. He soon finds his escape hatch: a university-sponsored mission to South America to look for indigenous musical instruments in one of the few areas of the world not yet touched by civilization. Retracing the steps of time, he voyages with his lover into a land that feels outside of history.
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Fantastic!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-16-23
By: Alejo Carpentier, and others
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The Fifth Gospel
- A Novel
- By: Ian Caldwell
- Narrated by: Jack Davenport
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2004, as Pope John Paul II's reign enters its twilight, a mysterious exhibit is under construction at the Vatican Museums. A week before it is scheduled to open, its curator is murdered at a clandestine meeting on the outskirts of Rome. The same night a violent break-in rocks the home of the curator's research partner, Father Alex Andreou, a Greek Catholic priest who lives inside the Vatican with his five-year-old son.
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A Necessary Review of a Masterpiece
- By TheMedicalToker on 02-25-16
By: Ian Caldwell
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The Palace of Eros
- A Novel
- By: Caro De Robertis
- Narrated by: Caro De Robertis
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town and far beyond with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations and demands of men. When her father realizes that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives.
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Beautiful!
- By Jennifer C. on 12-28-24
By: Caro De Robertis
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White Noise
- By: Don DeLillo
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event", a lethal black chemical cloud floats over the Gladneys' lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys - radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings - pulsing with life yet suggesting something ominous.
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Designed to be analyzed by an English class
- By RI in Canada on 10-15-16
By: Don DeLillo
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Popisho
- A Novel
- By: Leone Ross
- Narrated by: Leone Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Somewhere far away - or maybe right nearby - lies an archipelago called Popisho. A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny, and mystery, it is also a place in need of change. A storm is brewing. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters.
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Moving and Lyrical
- By Nicole Ivy on 08-28-21
By: Leone Ross
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The Art of Prophecy
- A Novel
- By: Wesley Chu
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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So many stories begin the same way: With a prophecy. A chosen one. And the inevitable quest to slay a villain, save the kingdom, and fulfill a grand destiny. But this is not that kind of story. It does begin with a prophecy: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom. And that prophecy did anoint a hero, Jian, raised since birth in luxury and splendor, and celebrated before he has won a single battle.
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Feast of the Girl Bosses
- By maria on 07-31-24
By: Wesley Chu
Tragic yet stunningly beautiful
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Such a well written and thought provoking book!
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The book is imaginative and deeply intelligent. The writing carries you without getting in the way. The main characters were completely relatable. An impressive accomplishment!
Sociological SF — imaginative and deeply intelligent
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Fascinating until the end
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